Boron Nitride Nanosheets Strengthened PVA/Borax Hydrogels with Highly Efficient Self‐Healing and Rapid pH‐Driven Shape Memory Effect

Abstract Self‐healing hydrogels often possess poor mechanical properties which largely limits their applications in many fields. In this work, boron nitride nanosheets are introduced into a network of the poly(vinyl alcohol)/borax (PVA/borax) hydrogels to enhance the mechanical properties of the hydrogel without compromising the self‐healing abilities. The obtained hydrogels exhibit excellent mechanical properties with a tensile strength of 0.410 ± 0.007 MPa, an elongation at break of 1712%, a Young's Modulus of 0.860 ± 0.023 MPa, and a toughness of 3.860 ± 0.075 MJ m −3 . In addition, the self‐healing efficiency of the hydrogels is higher than 90% within 10 min at room temperature. Benefiting from the excellent self‐healing properties, the shapeability of the hydrogel fragments is observed using different molds. In addition, the hydrogels display rapid pH‐driven shape memory effects and can recover to their original shape within 260 s. Overall, this work provides a new approach to hydrogels with integrated excellent mechanical properties, self‐healing abilities, and rapid pH‐driven shape memory effects.